Support
by theboardwalkbody
Summary: Daryl/OC. Now rated M for graphic adult situations. On a temporary hiatus until the show resumes as I update new chapters to follow the current episode.
1. Chapter 1

Finally his hand clutched at the hard soil at the top of the ravine and by digging his fingers into the dirt he was able to drag himself over the edge. Pulling himself over and resting on his knees with one hand resting on the trunk of the tree next to him filled him with an uncountable amount of relief. He took deep breaths. He wasn't exactly out of this situation yet, he was just in the home stretch now, but the worst was over. Standing up he shouted, "You better run!" into the air where moments before he had been so sure his brother was standing; taunting him as he struggled to climb up the side of the ravine. He stood for a moment to catch his breath.

Zoey was walking through the woods looking for any sign that a young girl had been there. She was not entirely comfortable with being alone in the woods, but she choose this so she couldn't complain. Anticipation was eating at her. She wanted to find the girl, reunite her with her mother and have the group move on. She sensed something was off with Hershel. He wasn't what she had first thought he was.

She heard rustling from an overgrown bush near her and her hand flew reflexively to her hip where she had a short sword in a sheath on her belt. It was a Lord of the Rings replica sword that she had spent close to five-hundred dollars on just to hang it on her wall. Who would have ever thought she would actually be fighting monsters with it. The group laughed at her for owning the sword and most of them didn't even know it was a prop replica for a fantasy movie. She figured if they did know they would just laugh all the more, so she didn't say anything. Not that she really cared anyway as it was an effective enough weapon against walkers.

The noise turned out to be nothing but a squirrel. Her grip around the swords handle slacked and she let out a breath that was stuck in her throat from the moments fear she experienced. As the squirrel scampered away she couldn't help but wonder if it would end up wandering across the ravine into Daryl's grid and meet a very nasty fate. She terminated the thought when she realized that if that were the case she would most likely end up eating the poor thing later on. Hershel was stingy with his food as well as his house.

She pressed on again but didn't manage to get more than a few feet when she heard yelling. She couldn't make out the words, but she knew the voice. For some reason Daryl was close and he was yelling. She knew he had a temper on him so she wasn't surprised, but something seemed odd. Daryl went into the woods earlier this morning, alone, just as she had. His assigned grid was supposed to be on the opposite side of the ravine than everyone else's so why was he close to her and who was he yelling at? Something had to be wrong.

She broke out into a run in the direction of Daryl's voice fearing that he had perhaps encountered walkers and was being attacked. When she found him he looked absolutely deranged. He was covered in blood that was very obviously his own. A gash on his temple was caked in drying blood and his over-shirt was tied around his waist in attempt to stop the bleeding of what was a very serious wound. His chest, arms, and face were covered in dirt and blood and he was wearing what appeared to be a necklace of ears, which she was too afraid to even think about asking him about. Blood surrounded his mouth and coated his teeth and she wasn't sure she even wanted to know why. Anger was apparent in his expression.

"Somethin' wrong with me?" He asked angrily when all she did was stop and stare at him.

"I should be asking you that." She said trying not to let her voice give away how much his state and his anger frightened her. Daryl Dixon was intimidating at the best of times, when he was angry he downright scared her. She always feared angry men.

"Well what the hell do you think, Yankee?" He spat.

Her eyes dropped their gaze to the ground. Being originally from New Jersey she had been called "Yankee" by Daryl quite a few times. He hadn't called her that since his brother went missing weeks ago, though, so she felt a little upset that he would call her that again when all she wanted to do was help him. In fact, she thought he was actually becoming a sweet guy ever since Merle was no longer in the picture, so his words stung her a little.

She was determined to not let him see how he got to her, though, so she picked her gaze back up.

"Are you bit?" she asked softly, her voice betraying the tough façade she sought to display.

He must have noticed the change in her demeanor upon having him insult her and felt bad about it because he stopped glaring at her. "No." he answered her truthfully.

He wouldn't hurt her. He could be a dick sometimes, but he wouldn't hurt her. He was proving himself to be a team player, he wouldn't throw that away by hurting her. She relayed this fact over and over in her mind several times as she walked up to him. Stopping only a few inches from his bloody body.

He stared at her now. She was right in front of him. His mind was reeling. He couldn't figure out what she was doing. He wasn't angry at her, it wasn't her fault he was thrown off the horse and fell down into the ravine. It wasn't her fault that his own crossbow bolt pierced his side, and it wasn't her fault that he almost didn't make it back out of the ravine. He felt bad about having snapped at her as if it was her fault, but now he felt taken aback. What the hell was she doing? Why had she come so close to him? Usually she kept her distance.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled and looked at his feet thinking perhaps she came close to him because she plucked up the courage to yell at him for yelling at her. He went to take a step away from her and almost fell to his knees.

She caught him before he could fall all the way to the ground and risk slipping back down into the ravine they were standing dangerously close to. He looked up at her and she gave a small smile.

"I just want to help, Daryl." she said in response to the questions his brain had been demanding answers to ever since she came over to him. If he didn't know better he would have sworn she knew what he was thinking.

She wrapped his muscular arm around her narrow shoulders so that she could support him as she helped him get back firmly on his feet and led him back to Hershel's farm.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally they had made it back to the edge of the woods; back to Hershel's farm. Knowing Daryl was safe now and would probably not want to be seen needing a girl half his size to support him she removed his arm from her shoulders.

"I know you'll be fine from here so I'm gonna go back and look some more before dark." she said. She wanted him more than the others to think she could be tough, too. She wanted to impress him by going back and looking some more.

He nodded and walked towards the farmhouse as she turned and walked back into the woods. She only made it a couple feet before she heard a gunshot from the direction of the farm. She turned on the spot and sprinted towards the farm, exiting the tree-line to see Rick and Shane picking Daryl up off the ground.

Zoey was clearing off her plate after having the dinner that Carol and Lori cooked for everyone while the rest of the group was out looking for Sophia. She offered to help Carol with the dishes because coming home without Sophia made her feel personally responsible in a way and she couldn't stand to see how heartbroken Carol was every time everyone returned without her daughter. Something was different tonight, though, and she knew it was because Daryl found Sophia's doll. Carol seemed more upset rather than happy to see evidence that her daughter had been around. Zoey assumed it was because the doll could mean the girl was dead.

"Do you mind finishing up?" Carol asked politely. "I want to bring Daryl some food before it gets too cold."

"Oh, no, of course not." She said. Carol smiled quickly and left the kitchen with a plate of food for Daryl.

Zoey finished up the last of the dishes and decided to go check on Daryl as well since she hadn't seen him since Hershel stitched him up. She waited outside of the room for Carol to come out, she didn't want to interrupt. She caught the end of her conversation with him and felt bad for eavesdropping. When Carol spotted her on her way out of the room Zoey shot her a quick smile which Carol sweetly returned.

Zoey realized Carol was something like a mother figure to Daryl. She sensed they shared some sort of unspoken connection. At first she thought it was because Daryl was trying the most to find Sophia, but she had a feeling it was more than that now.

She poked her head into the room before she walked in. Daryl was facing the opposite way so that he could lay on his right side and not irritate the stitches in the left. His head was wrapped in a bandage and his body was wrapped in a blanket. His face had been cleaned up but even from this distance Zoey could tell he still needed to scrub away the dirt on his shoulder, which was exposed. Her gaze dropped a little from his shoulder to the exposed shoulder blade and she noticed a V-shaped scar there.

"Daryl?" she said softly to let him know she was there.

He turned around as best he could to look at her quickly before facing away again. "Carol already brought me dinner."

"I know, I just wanted to see how you were doing." she said meekly. She wondered how come whenever she was surrounded by the entire group she could actually have a spine, but when alone with Daryl she crumpled like a rag.

"As I told Carol, about as good as I look." he said.

She walked into the room and shut the door. The soft click of it closing made Daryl turn again and watch her as she walked to the end of the bed and sat down on it, careful not to make physical contact with him. He glared at her but more due to confusion than anger.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry." she said quietly. "If I hadn't have let you go back by yourself you might not have been shot at."

"Might not've. Probably still would've been. Or you'd of been shot at instead." he grumbled and turned away again. He was beginning to get annoyed with her confusing him all the time. Ever since they left their camp along the highway without Merle she had been acting strange around him. One minute she was a cocky girl who always tended to put herself out on a limb somehow and then the next she would fold like a bad poker hand when he looked at her. "Look, is there anything ya want 'cos I'm fuckin' tired."

"Sorry." She said, getting up to her feet. She made to turn and walk out but she stopped as if she was somehow rooted to the spot. "Carol was right, you know."

Daryl twisted around a third time to look at her. He knew this wasn't good for his stitches but he wanted to know what the hell was going on with her once and for all. "Do ya mind just sayin' it already? What the hell is goin' on with ya? You're worse than Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde half the goddamn time. Ya act like that around anybody else or is it just me? Why can't ya make up your damn mind already? Do ya hate me or what?" he snapped at her.

She stared like a deer in the headlights.

"Whatever." Daryl said as he turned away for the last time and pulled the covers up to his head in a way that resembled the way a child would if he were pouting.

"I just wanted to say that I disagree with what Carol said. I don't think your as good as Rick or Shane." she said.

Anger was beginning to surge through him. How dare she come in here after all he had been through and then take away the one thing that had made him happy to be part of this damned group. Had he not been in the state he was he probably would have jumped to his feet and threw her out of the room within seconds. He went to say 'fuck you' but she spoke again to finish her thought.

"I think you're better than them, Daryl." she whispered so softly he wondered if he even heard her correctly. "I think you're so much better than them." she reiterated.

He was speechless. So that was the reason she was off around him. She didn't hate him, she liked him? This was an entirely new concept to him. In fact, he found the concept of her caring for him to be the most exhausting thing he had experienced that day.

She left the room then since he didn't say anything back to her, not that she really expected him too. This was the end of the world, not some romance novel. Daryl's mind was reeling again, though, he didn't know exactly what to do. He had so many of his own thoughts and feelings about her to sort out before he could even attempt to think about what he was going to do about this. There was one thing, though, that he was sure of. Thanks to the words of both Carol and Zoey he realized that what Merle (if Merle really had been there, Daryl was still not sure of) said earlier was false. Merle had said that he was the only one who will ever care about him, but that's a lie. These people care about him, and Merle never ever did.


	3. FLASHBACK

**Author's Notes:** I figured I would make FLASHBACK chapters, just like how there are sometimes flashback scenes in the show. If it's a full flashback chapter the chapter will be called 'Flashback'. If the flashback is short it will be in italics and a ( **** ) will follow it to separate it from the present.

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><p>Zoey ran through the woods as fast as she could. She could hear them, two walkers, snarling behind her. She wouldn't let herself turn her head to look at exactly how close they were, though, because she wasn't a fool. She knew that taking her eyes away from what was directly in front of her for even a second could result in her tripping over something or colliding with something. Both would cost her her life. She'd seen enough horror films not to make that mistake. A sheathed sword thumped against her leg with every step. She didn't draw it, though, she knew she couldn't kill both of them at the same time with just one sword. She knew that while she took out one the other would take out her. Her lungs were burning in her chest, her legs grew weaker with every heavy step. She had to come up with a plan, she wouldn't make it too much farther.<p>

The farther she noticed the trees seemed to be thinning. Therefore they had more room to spread their branches and they were sprouting off the trunk lower to the ground. All she had to do was find one with a branch low enough for her to grab on to. That in itself would be no easy task, she knew, since she was only 2 inches over 5 foot.

Finally she had seen one that offered a bit of hope. The branch was probably about 6 foot off the ground but she had to try it, the walkers were getting closer and she couldn't breathe. She reached the tree and attempted to jump up for the branch, to no avail. She did look behind her now, both walkers were charging at her and she knew she had only seconds to hoist herself up somehow. She wrapped her arms around the trunk as much as she could, as the tree was thick, and used the sides of her feet and her legs to push herself up the trunk. She almost cried out in relief when her fingers touched the branch. She gave herself one more push up the tree's trunk and was able to pull herself onto the branch. She stood on top of it, using the trunk for support and climbed over to a branch within reaching distance. She wasn't sure if geeks could climb, but she figured that from this vantage point if they could she'd be able to take them out once they reached the lower branch. They couldn't both climb up at the same time after all.

But the walkers didn't climb up after her. They stood jumping and snarling at the base of the tree. It was pretty gruesome to watch, for every time the one geek jumped his head would wobble on his neck, the spine having been broken and the head being held on just by the necks connective tissue. So now she found herself in a new situation. Now she was a sitting duck. She couldn't get down with them there, and who knows how long they would stay before they gave up and went to find easier prey. If they would even give up, that is.

Zoey sat there on that branch for what seemed like hours. Judging by the suns movement, though, she knew it was only something like one, but when there are walkers snapping at you and you have no way out it can feel like much, much longer. Out of boredom she began talking to them.

"I hope you sons of bitches are happy with yourselves. You must be so proud. You've gone and got me stuck in a fuckin' tree. If you were actually alive I bet you'd be laughin' your asses off. But guess what, jokes on you, 'cause I ain't comin' down. You can sit there and snarl all you want, but it's game over. You can't have me. Sure you can try and climb up here, but I'll just kill ya. You're in a lose/lose situation down there, and you don't even realize it." she told them.

"You know, Mr. Nearly-Headless, down there, if this were Harry Potter you'd be real good friends with Nearly Headless Nick. You could both go on about how you can't be accepted into the Headless Hunt." she stopped.

"Oh my God, look at what I am doing. I'm stuck in a tree talking to geeks who don't even understand a word I am saying." she said to herself. She groaned and put her head against the trunk.

Suddenly she felt a tickling sensation on her ankle that seemed like it was spreading rapidly up to her knees. A sense of panic took over her as she reached down and pulled up the leg of her pants. Several quarter sized spiders were crawling on her leg; big, hairy, spiders. She freaked out. She let out a scream and began swatting the spiders off of her. In her fright she lost balance and began to fall from the branch. She was able to warp her arms around it, but now found herself dangling with her feet only several feet from the ground. The walkers could reach her now.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" she yelled. "Got myself killed because of fucking spiders! I knew those mother fuckers would kill me one day!"

The walkers went at her and she kicked at them as best she could, praying she could kick one hard enough in the head to kill it whilst she still tried to lift herself back up on to the branch.

What happened next happened so fast that she wasn't sure what exactly had happened until she was back on the ground. As she kicked at the walkers she heard a faint whistling sound and the nearly headless one just suddenly dropped to the ground. She gave the second walker a good kick and it stumbled backward and then it's head was pinned against the tree trunk and it was dead. She let go of the branch and fell on to the hard dirt floor of the woods. She looked at the geeks and saw arrows sticking out of their heads.

Looking around her for the source she saw a man approaching. He was cloaked in shadow from the trees so she could only make out his silhouette. She could tell he had heavily muscled arms and was just about 6 foot take about an inch or so. He was approaching her wielding a crossbow that was still drawn and pointed directly at her.


	4. FLASHBACK 2

**Notes:** Sorry for two complete FLASHBACK chapters in a row, but I felt it was needed since the next chapter also contains a SMALL flashback that I feel wouldn't have made sense without this one.

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><p>"Ya bit!" demanded a thickly accented and gruff voice.<p>

"No! I promise! At least, I don't think so." Zoey said.

"Well ya better be sure and ya better be sure quickly." said the man still aiming the crossbow directly at her.

"OK. Wait! I'll check!" she said. She looked at her legs to make sure that the walkers hadn't gotten her while she was dangling from the tree. "Nothing!"

The man lowered the crossbow and threw it over his shoulder. He approached her with a strong stride. When he was a foot or two from her he stopped. She looked at him. He had soft looking brown hair that clung to parts of his forehead and neck from sweating. His uncovered arms glistened with sweat and she was a bit taken aback by the size of his muscles. He was covered in dirt - not that she thought she looked any cleaner. His light colored eyes glared at her as he towered above her.

He glared at her. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and he could see freckles prominently stand out against her light skin, covering her face, arms and what he could see of her shoulders that wasn't covered by the straps of the tank-top she wore. He noticed her weapon of choice sheathed in her belt and he almost let out a sort of chuckle at how ridiculous it was that a girl would even own a sword.

Neither of them could help but think after a while about how animalistic this seemed. Two people eyeing up each other like two wolves would eye up each other before attacking.

"Daryl, where the hell you at, boy?" came a call from a voice even gruffer than the one the man before her, Daryl, possessed. It had something in it that Daryl's lacked, too. Zoey couldn't put her finger on it.

"So, Daryl is it?" Zoey asked.

He nodded and called back to his brother. "Over here, Merle. Found somethin'."

A moment later a man stepped out of the thicker trees and approached the two of them. She must have been blocked from view by Daryl because the approaching man, Merle, seemed not to notice her.

"Whatcha find, baby brother? Is it good enough to eat? Somethin' other than squirrels?" he asked.

Zoey figured it out. With every word this man spoke he seemed to be patronizing the man standing in front of her.

"Nah. just this." Daryl stepped aside and Zoey laid her eyes upon Merle Dixon.

His muscles were bigger than Daryl's, his blonde hair was so short she almost couldn't see it, and he walked with a gait that seemed to say that he was better than anyone or anything else. A shotgun was slung over his shoulders. Already she was intimidated by this man. Even more so intimidated than what she felt from Daryl.

"Well. I would say that is good enough to eat." Merle laughed and a crude smirk fell upon his face.

Zoey was immediately put off by his crude comment.

"Knock it off, Merle." Daryl muttered to his brother.

"Oh, baby brother, relax, I'm just kiddin' wit the girl!" he said as he approached Zoey and slung an arm around her shoulder as if they were close friends. The leather from the shirt he wore - if you could call it a shirt - felt rough against her side and she hated it. "So, Girly, what brings ya, to ol' Merle's neck of the woods?"

"My name's not 'Girly'." she squeaked. She silently cursed herself for that. Sure, she could yell and curse at walkers all she wanted, but this man was even scarier than the walkers. And she didn't exactly like how close he was to her. She wanted to pull away but she was too afraid.

Merle was amused at Zoey's obvious lack of comfort for a moment but it faded as instantly as it came at her defiance and disregard for his question. "Well then what is it?" His tone changed immediately. It went from a playful, yet demeaning tone to a strong aggravated one.

"Zoey." she said, and thanked God her voice didn't squeak again this time.

"Alright then, Zoey." he moved away from her and stood beside her brother. "You got others 'roun' here?"

"No." she answered. "Just me."

"Where the hells that accent from?" Daryl asked, almost sounding as gruff as his brother but not exactly achieving the same level of intimidation.

"Yeah, Girly, where ya from?" Merle reiterated his brothers question, disregarding Zoey's dislike of being called "Girly".

"New Jersey." she told them.

"Fuckin' Yankee!" Merle would have spat but something stopped him. He wanted something from her, so he figured he'd play nice. For now. "Well, then, Yankee." he paused, looked at his younger brother, and returned to Zoey's side. "Whatcha say we go back ta our camp, then. These here woods ain't no place for a young girl like you."

Zoey would have protested two things. One; she was not a "young girl", at 23 she felt she shouldn't be called such. Two; She didn't know these people, why should she trust them to take her back to their camp. She said nothing, however. She felt she didn't have any say in the matter.


	5. Chapter 5

_It was pitch black. Zoey was walking through the woods and back to the campsite. She could see the glow of the small fire from where she stood even though it was hard for her to see through her blurred vision. Half caused by what she thought was probably a bit of a concussion, and what was half due to her own tears. She was in pain that she could hardly stand. She couldn't think straight and she couldn't even remember all of what just happened. Her head was throbbing and when she weakly lifted a hand to the back of it where it hurt she was surprised to feel no cut. Just a huge lump. She knew that before she was back with the others she had to compose herself. Even though, at the moment, she couldn't remember what exactly happened, she would remember the next morning after she slept. If she could just make it back to camp, she'd be fine. _

Zoey walked aimless around camp that afternoon as nothing particularly interesting was happening. Carol was cooking something over the fire, Dale was on lookout, Glenn was talking to Lori about something - probably another run into town. She thought for a bit if she would ask to join him. She could use a few things form the drug store. She'd been feeling a bit off for a couple weeks, nothing debilitating, but she sensed something was off. She figured it must be some sort of bad cramping, though, and shrugged it off. She'd let Glenn go alone. Though, she knew Maggie would probably join him.

When she got bored of wandering and pacing about she headed back to her tent to lay down for a bit. As she walked she passed Daryl's tent. He was so occupied on poking holes in his tents screen until he caught a glimpse of her walk by. He struggled with the thought of calling her over for company since the boredom was driving him insane, but the sudden appearance of Andrea wrenched the thought from his mind.

Zoey lay for a bit when she felt a little pang in her stomach and a sudden urge to be sick. 'Great,' she thought, 'hell of a time to be coming down with a flu.' Despite telling herself these words to comfort herself she had a feeling this was not the flu. Perhaps she would have to go in to town with Glenn after all. If her suspicions were correct she had to do something and do it fast.

Her thoughts were beginning to put her in a panic. She started crying and was glad to be secluded in her tent. After a few moments she heard what was supposed to be a knock on her tent, but due to the tent being malleable material sounded more like a weird scratching sound.

"Hey, Zoey?" It was Carol. "We're all going for a shooting lesson, you're welcome to join us."

"Thanks, but, I'm going to stay here. I'm not feeling too great." she answered trying not to let it sound like she had been crying seconds earlier.

"Are you OK, Zoey? You sound a bit off." Carol asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Really. Just been coughing a lot." she lied.

Carol sensed that she was lying but didn't push her any further. "Alright, we'll be back soon if you need anything. I think Glenn's going into town later. I'll tell him to pick something up for you if you want."

"No, it's okay, but thanks anyway." Zoey said.

"Well, OK." Carol paused as if she half expected Zoey to break out into a confession about how she was feeling. When she didn't she said "Well…see you later."

A bit later Zoey heard the closing of car doors and the sound of tires spinning against the dirt. She was fairly sure there was no one left in the camp except for Daryl and herself.

It was silent for a while, and frankly Zoey was reveling in it. Finally some peace and quiet and no anxiety about having people barging in on her when she sought solitude. The silence didn't last forever, however.

"I didn' hear no coughin'." came a gruff voice from somewhere to the right of her tent.

Daryl.

This sudden reminder of his presence startled Zoey. For some reason it made her stomach hurt all over again.

"Yeah, and what's that to you?" she asked. Daryl Dixon was the last person she wanted to have question her right now.

"Nothin' I guess, jus wanna know why ya'd lie to Carol like that." came his response.

"It's nothing." she said.

"Then why'd ya lie if it's nothin'?" he asked.

"Why does this have to turn into an interrogation?" Zoey snapped.

"It don't. Just wonderin' if yer ok is all." he said.

Zoey turned her head in the direction of his voice as if she was actually in the same tent as him rather than in her own. "Look. I'm fine, and I'd appreciate it if everyone would stop asking me so many goddamn questions!" she yelled.

"Well shit. Forget I ever said a thing to ya, Mr. Hyde." he said.

That ended their conversation. Daryl was getting sick of her games; sick of how one day she claimed to care for him, then the next would completely blow him off when all he did was ask if she was okay. If she kept it up, he decided, he just wouldn't bother with her at all. Screw however she felt about him. He'd had enough verbal abuse in his lifetime, he didn't need to be taking shit from her, some girl he hardly knew and only met a few weeks ago.

Zoey buried her face in the single pillow on her bed made of sheets and blankets. She didn't mean to snap at him like that, but she couldn't tell him what happened. Him, of all the people in the group especially. He could never, ever know. She had to take care of this herself. She had to get rid of the problem, the evidence of it, if it wasn't too late that is. She was never really religious but she prayed it wasn't too late.

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong> OK, this thing doesn't let me add those three stars or whatever to put a break between flashbacks and present. So, just remember. Italics = flashback.


	6. FLASHBACK 3

**Notes:** WARNING - non-con in this chapter. You can skip it if you do not wish to read it as you will pretty much be told what happens in a non-graphic way in a later chapter, and I'm not a good enough writer to keep this a secret, really. It was obvious, I know.  
>If you DO read this chapter, feedback is much wanted because I am afraid I will lose readers because of this chapter and I do not wish that to happen. So please set my restless mind at ease and let me know this didn't ruin the entire story for you. D:<p>

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><p>Zoey had only been at the camp site Daryl and Merle brought her to for a couple hours when she decided she needed to do something to keep herself occupied. The other group members were nothing like the Dixon brothers, which she was grateful for, but she felt awkward and isolated among them. They weren't purposely excluding her, they just didn't trust her yet, which she understood seeing as how she felt the same way.<p>

Without a word she stood up and began walking back toward the woods. No one asked where she was off to, but they watched her go. A few feet into the woods Zoey heard the sounds of breaking twigs and rustling foliage that didn't sync up to her movements. Stopping and turning around she saw nothing. She shrugged it off and continued walking further into the woods. She was positive it wasn't a walker; it had to be one of the group going off to do their own foraging or needing a bathroom break. Or it was just some animal. Still, she felt a little uneasy and listened carefully as she moved on.

She figured she might as well do something useful while she was in the woods. Maybe do something to prove that the group could trust her like gather berries to eat or get some more firewood as it would be getting dark soon. She decided the latter was the best idea since she was never in a situation where she needed to know which kinds of berries were edible and which were poisonous so she had no idea what to look for.

She stood still for a moment as she decided which direction to head in. She knew she shouldn't wander too far off since the last thing she needed was to be lost in the woods with walkers around. Staying on a straight path seemed like a good idea so she walked forward a couple yards more before bending down to pick up twigs and small branches.

As she was bent over she felt something press against her backside as a gruff voice behind her said, "Not a bad view from back here."

She squeaked, her knees gave out and she fell to the floor of the woods landing on the small amount of branches she had only just picked up. Above her Merle laughed. She knew it was him, she'd known the man only a few hours and already she knew that laugh of his meant no good. She pushed herself up, her hands were cut up from the firewood and the woods natural brush. Upon standing she found Merle dangerously close to her and smirking. She took an uneasy step back and turned away from him without saying a word.

Had she had an ounce of the courage she wished she had around this man she would have told him off at the very least, but she was so afraid of him that the sheer knowledge that she was alone in the woods with him threatened to make her heart beat out of her chest. Her heavy breathing would have been obvious if she spoke even one word so she said nothing.

"Oh, come on now? No hello? Are ya forgettin' who it was that saved ya earlier today?" he asked.

"No." she said, surprised that she even opened her mouth.

"Good." Merle said and walked toward her.

For some reason she didn't think before she opened her mouth again and spoke. "Your brother did."

For reasons unknown to Zoey that statement struck a chord in Merle. He grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her toward him so hard that she fell back to the woods floor only this time landing on her back hard enough to knock the wind out of her. As she struggled to get some air back in her lungs Merle straddled her small frame. He had one leg on either side of her waist and he leaned forward so she could feel is hot breath on her face.

His large, rough hand covered her mouth making it even more difficult for her to get the air back in her and he whispered, "That's enough out of you now, girly. You forget all about that worthless brother of mine, ya hear? If it wasn't for me he would'a left your ass here in these woods. It was my idea to take ya back to camp so that you'd have a chance of survivin' the night. You owe me. I deserve a thank you."

Zoey went wide eyed, she knew what was going to happen. She dug her heels into the dirt and tried to push herself out from under him. Her hands pushed at his arms and his torso, but she was too week; he was too strong. The man was twice her size, she realized she would be going nowhere. She still tried, though. She dug her chipped, dirty nails into his thick, dirt covered arms as best she could. Both of them were surprised when the action resulted in a small dot of blood to form where one of her nails actually managed to pierce the skin.

The action gave Zoey a small spark of hope that maybe she could fight her way out of his grasp and run as fast as she could back to camp. That spark was extinguished when Merle backhanded her so hard that she couldn't see straight for a moment.

"Listen up now, Zoey." He said. It was the first time he had ever called her by her name and it made her sick. "That's enough. You owe me and when someone owes ol' Merle they pay up. Got it? You try and run, you try and scream I will knock you out and feed ya to the geeks. Little lost girl or not, ya mean no more ta me than cow shit, hear?"

She hated herself for it, but she nodded her head as tears formed in her eyes and feel down the sides of her face in rapid succession. Her breathing was so fast it hurt and she found herself having to gasp to get a decent breath. She was already getting dizzy.

"I knew ya were gonna be easy ta break. Not like them other ones back there. They know me well enough already not to let me get them alone. That little blonde one's sweet, she'd be nice, too if that bitch of a sister she had would ever stop watchin' 'er." He said as he moved his hands up under her shirt. They lingered there only for a moment before he pulled her up into a sitting position. He was still straddling her and the pressure of his heavy body on her thighs hurt. He ordered her to take off her top and bra. She obeyed and did so with her eyes closed but still leaking tears. She couldn't watch what was going on, she just couldn't. She couldn't sit upright anymore and she let herself fall back once more.

His rough hands found her breasts again. The callousness of them felt oddly pleasurable against the soft pale skin and she was overcome with such shame at the feeling that it threatened to make her sick. She pursed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut as her breathing hitched in her throat. It wasn't until Merle gave a hard pinch to her nipples that her eyes sprung open at the sudden, sharp pain and she gasped. She felt him grow against her thigh and a twisted smile spread across his face.

"Why don't ya just enjoy it, sugar tits? We could have so much fun." He bent his body forward and sucked at a nipple briefly before biting it hard and straightening back up. The biting at her sensitive nipple elicited another squeak from her and she shut her eyes tight again. Her chest rose and fell with her rapid breathing and Merle enjoyed watching the rise and fall of her succulent breasts. They were snow white as they had never seen any sort of tanning bed or been exposed to the natural tanning of the sun, but her nipples were now red from his assault on them.

He was shocked that just her squeaks of terror mixed with the sight of her breasts could get him so hard so quickly. He was never one for drawing things out so he wasted no time undoing his belt and exposing his hard member. Her eyes were still shut when he moved himself off to the side of her and tangled his hand in her short hair, pulling her head toward his cock. Her eyes opened at the action and grew wide when they fell upon him. Her tears were falling so fast now it was as if they were not separate tears at all, but rather one ongoing stream. She found herself on her hands and knees in front of his fully erect cock.

"Please, no." she begged. "I can't, I really can't"

"Shut up and suck. Don't you dare even think of bitin' else the geeks be gettin' ya." he growled and pulled her head to him making her pleading stop by stuffing her mouth.

Zoey had only ever gone down on a guy once before. She knew she was no good at this and her jaw ached as it was opened to its full extent. Her features were very small. She knew at this point that if Merle hardly fit in her mouth then when he actually took her it was going to hurt ten times worse. She'd never actually had sex before. She came close a few times with the last boyfriend she had, but there was always something that interfered.

Merle's hand held her head still as he thrust his hips in and out of her small mouth. His moans made her feel sick and when he gave a hard thrust forward causing his cock to enter her throat she almost choked. The sounds of her choking gave him a sick satisfaction and he almost burst. He wasn't through with her yet, though, so he let go of her head and let his cock leave her mouth.

"Please let me go." she squeaked, her voice was hoarse.

"Oh, no." he said. "Does it look like I'm finished with ya yet?" he pushed her back down and removed her jeans and underwear together. She lay there, exposed to him, small and cowering.

He forced her to get on her hands and knees and she did, though her entire body was noticeably shaking. Her arms felt weak beneath her and she wondered if she'd have the strength to hold herself up for long. The answer came when Merle spread her legs apart and entered her tight, virgin pussy from behind. Her arms gave out and she found herself with her face pressed to the floor of the woods yet again.

Pain racked her entire body. She wasn't ready for this in any way. She wasn't wet enough, and he was too big for her to handle. In normal circumstances he still would have been too big for her to handle. It was obvious that her small mouth wasn't the only part of her that was too small to accommodate his size.

She let out a scream and Merle pushed her head hard into the dirt so that her nose bloodied. "What the fuck did I tell ya?" was all he had to say to get her to remember that no matter what she felt she couldn't scream.

He pulled out of her and spat on his hand to lube himself up as to try and enter her more properly. After the action he placed his hand on her stomach as his other hand rested on her hip. His strong fingers dug into her hip bone. He pulled her onto him just as he had with her mouth and managed to get himself all the way inside of her. She was so tight around him that he couldn't move. His entire body threatened to let go and his cock threatened to burst if he moved again.

Zoey's body burned with pain and she bit her lip, that tasted of dirt and blood, to keep from screaming again. Once Merle got himself back under control he began to thrust in and out of Zoey at a slow but forceful pace. It still hurt, but with each thrust she felt a sick pleasure well up inside her. She tried to focus on nothing but the pain and block out the pleasure aspect. She wouldn't let her body betray her as well.

She didn't win, however, and when Merle's pace quickened a faint moan escaped Zoey's lips. It was more of a sigh than a moan, really, but Zoey prayed that Merle hadn't heard it.

"Knew ya'd come 'round. Told ya it'd be fun." he grunted between thrusts. His cock twitched at the sound of her moan and he knew he wouldn't last much longer.

Zoey knew that when this was all over she was going to be sick.

It was only a few moments longer before Merle's pace became erratic and his thrusts hit her harder than before. Both hands were now digging into her hips and she knew she'd have huge bruises there. He came inside her with a throaty grunt that was almost a growl. He pulled out of her and did his pants back up. Her body collapsed on the ground. She couldn't move.

"Now. You wait 'til the sun goes down to come back. Can't have no suspicions goin' on. You tell 'em some story, ya hear. No walker stories, they'll think ya got scratched or bit then they really will kill ya. You tell them nothin' 'bout me bein' anywhere near ya. Got it." he said.

She didn't say a word; she didn't move. She didn't need to. He left as soon as he was done speaking without even a glance at her. She passed out seconds later.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a slow morning at the campsite. Hershel's family members wandered about doing their chores just as Zoey and the rest of group wandered around doing the same. Never getting in each others way and never making small talk with each other. It was as they were opposing teams and conversation was taboo.

Zoey was feeling better than the previous day and was about to set out to help cook or wash up when she heard stirrings from Daryl's tent. She inconspicuously watched through the tent's mesh window and saw him start on a direct path toward the stables. Obviously he thought he was better, himself, but Zoey knew he wasn't. His gait was awkward and it was noticeable that just walking caused him at least some amount of pain. It was brief, but when he exited the tent and straightened himself up from his previously hunched position Zoey saw the look of pain in his face - the way he winced and the way his features tightened - and she even swore she heard a hiss escape his clenched teeth despite his efforts to cover up the sound with a deep breath.

She never would have thought she was one for actually stalking but curiosity at what he thought he would be doing in such a state hung over her like a dark cloud. She waited and watched him go in to the stable before she set out to follow him. On her way over she made sure no one else saw her either. She didn't feel like answering any questions about why she was following Daryl and she didn't want anyone to get a hold of her before she could get over to him.

She snuck around to the side of the stable that faced away from their campsite so that if anyone happened to glance over they wouldn't see her making a fool of herself and spying on a temperamental redneck. As she stood there, pressed against the wooden wall, she felt both silly and like a spy in some overdramatic movie from the 1950's. Once she thought about it the latter was silly as well. No spy actually acted like that, she was sure. Still she took a quick peak into the stable and watched as he attempted to get out a saddle. Did he actually think he was capable of riding a horse? He still had stitches and just the effort of saddling the horse would surely tear them. She admired his determination, though. She knew he was the one putting the most effort into finding Sophia. She wondered how much the others even cared anymore. It seemed like no one but Daryl and Carol were actually hopeful. She had to admit to herself that she thought the game was over, too. She always had a nasty habit of never even acknowledging a "bright side".

She figured she should stop being useless and tell Daryl to realize that he was in no shape to go back into the woods yet. She remembered the way he looked when she found him crawling out of the ravine. She felt a small pang in her heart. She didn't want that to happen to him again. And why was he going back to that very same horse? She shook her head in disbelief and was about to go up to him, though she was sure she was the last person he wanted to see right now, when she heard soft footsteps enter the stable from the other side.

It was Carol. As soon as she saw what Daryl was attempting she began to talk him out of it. Zoey had to hand it to her - Carol was becoming a voice of reason for Daryl. She also felt a little grateful now that the task of telling Daryl to stop was lifted off her shoulders. However, what Carol had said next made Zoey feel like she received a slap to the face.

"We don't know if we're going to find her, Daryl. We don't. I don't." she said.

Zoey couldn't believe it. Hearing that the girls own mother had given up hope somehow made the entire situation more real than it was. Zoey may have had her negativity about it, but hearing Carol has lost hope too was painful.

"What?" Daryl asked. He was shocked and angry.

"Can't lose you too." Carol replied and Zoey heard the upset in her voice that made her own heart break a little.

Zoey peaked around the corner and watched as Daryl turned away from Carol in anger and pushed over the horse's saddle that he had put so much effort in to getting on that stand. Just the effort of pushing it over caused sharp pain to flood his side as his stitched pulled and almost tore. Carol went to help him but he refused to have anything to do with her and pushed her away. As he left her and the stable Zoey heard him mutter, "Stupid bitch."

Carol was left stunned in the middle of the stable. Words like that had not been spoken to her since her husband was killed, but they stirred the memories and hurt her. Zoey was hurt by them as well, even though she knew they weren't aimed at her. She hadn't heard him be so cruel since before they got to the CDC, she thought he was changing now that Merle wasn't around. Hearing him say such a thing to Carol, the one person he seemed to actually give a damn about, reminded her that while he may have changed a bit he was still the angry redneck she had met weeks ago. He was still the same guy who had followed his brothers every order, and mimicked his every thought until that very brother left him and the group.

She heard what happened in the city. That Merle had been handcuffed to the roof of a building by Rick, and that by the time Daryl made them all go back to save him he was already gone, having cut his own hand off to save himself. She knew he would have come back if he wanted to, if he had thought the group was worth it. But she knew they weren't. She remembered what he had said to her the day he forced himself on her: "You mean no more to me than cow shit." Apparently he felt that way about everyone else as well, his own brother included.

She slid down the side of the stable and began to cry. How was it possible that what was supposed to be a vacation to visit family could turn into a nightmare? She had no idea where she was other than "in Georgia", she hardly knew these people (and making friends was never a skill of hers) and now she was undeniably pregnant with the baby of a racist asshole who raped her, and the only person she had begun to care about was that very man's brother who was beginning to slip back into his shadow even without him even being there.

Carol must have heard her sniffling because she had come around the corner suddenly which caused Zoey to give a small start. Her cover was blown, and she couldn't even think of a lie to cover it up. She had it with the lying, she didn't want to bear this burden herself anymore.

Carol sat down next to her with her own face stained with silent tears. The two of them sat there in silence for a few moments before Carol reached out and grabbed Zoey's hand.

"What's the matter?" she asked. Zoey was shocked that Carol even cared about her feelings when she had just been verbally abused by Daryl, the one person she seemed to really care about other than her own daughter.

"I'm so sorry." was all Zoey could choke out at the moment.

"About what sweetie?" Carol asked.

"About everything. About Sophia, about Daryl, about what an ass I've been. I haven't been doing anything lately and I've been lying about being sick to be alone, and it's just all so much!" Zoey cried.

"Don't worry about Daryl, I know he doesn't mean it. He's hurt. And I know I must seem like a bad mother right now, but understand that it just hurts so much. I have to be honest about it, I can't live in denial forever." she said.

"But, you don't know!" Zoey shouted.

"Shh." Carol whispered. "It's complicated, if you had a child you'd understand how hard being a parent through all this is."

Zoey felt angry at this. She already thought about what kind of a life a baby would have in this world. In her sudden anger she formed a fist with her free hand and slammed it into the dirt as she gave a strangled cry.

"But that's it!" she practically yelled. "That's just it!"

"Calm down, we don't need to get the others here." Carol said, and Zoey knew she was right, but she was just so upset that it was hard for her to remember to keep quiet.

"I'm fucking pregnant!" she yelled as softly as she could so that Carol could hear the anger in her voice but so that no passerby could hear.

Carol went wide-eyed. "But...how?" She never saw Zoey go off alone with any of the guys and she didn't seem to have established any relationship with any of them that would even remotely hint to having a sexual relationship with them. "Was it from before you found us?" she asked since that was the only explanation she could think of, that it must have happened before the walkers took over.

"It's Merle's." Zoey sobbed. "He raped me that first day. The damn baby is his and I don't want it!"

Carol had no words for her. All she could do was wrap her arms around Zoey and comfort her until she regained her composure.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes:** As I'm sure you've noticed each chapter (flashback chapters excluded) follow the airing of new episodes as my story follows the direct storyline of the show. Unfortunately this means there will not be new chapters until the show resumes in February. Don't run away, though, it'll be back as soon as the show is. Also the sequence of events may be a little bit off in this chapter (and the last) and I apologize for that. I waited a tad bit too long after watching the episode to write the chapters.

* * *

><p>Maggie and Glenn had only just gotten back from the drug store when Zoey made her way back to her tent. She saw Maggie storming toward Lori's tent, enter it and begin shouting at her. Zoey couldn't hear what she was saying and she didn't much care. She'd overheard enough things that day. Besides, the troubles of Lori could in no way be as bad as what she was dealing with. Or so she thought.<p>

On her way into her tent she encountered Daryl, as he was leaving his tent again. Her breath hitched in her throat when they made eye contact and she quickly hurried herself into her tent before he could see the tears reforming in her eyes. He glared at her back as she walked passed him. He had enough of her. Confessing her feeling for her one minute, hating him the next - he didn't need it. He was beginning to think he didn't need anyone in this group anymore. Still he felt bad about how he treated Carol. He wanted to apologize.

Once Daryl found her he lead her to the edge of a small lake by the woods. He showed her the Cherokee Rose that had bloomed there and tried to remind her that there was till hope for Sophia and he refused to give that hope up. Then he apologized for what happened.

Carol felt better now that he apologized and thought that with his determination there was still hope. She could trust him to find her, she was sure of it now.

Still, there was now also the matter of Zoey's issue. She knew she couldn't tell him herself, about what his own brother did, but she also knew he had to know. He had to get Zoey to tell him.

"Have you talked to Zoey in a while?" she asked.

Daryl let out a sigh and looked over the reflective surface of the water.

"She's a pain in the ass that one." he said.

"She's not, really." Carol said and Daryl rolled his eyes. "She's going through something, that's why she's acting the way she is. She's...not well."

This confused Daryl. What did "not well" mean? Was she going crazy? Or was she actually sick? Carol noticed his confusion

"Daryl, something happened to her and she's scared." Carol said.

"Something happened to all us, why's she special?" he asked. Why could people never be up front to him?

"You need to trust me, Daryl, it's important." she insisted.

"I don't know. One day she comes in and tells me she cares about me, the next she doesn't even want to talk to me. Why should I even bother with her?" Daryl said. He was getting a bit snappy again and he tried to calm himself down.

"She needs you, but she's scared of you right now." Carol told him. He looked at her with his head cocked slightly to the side, almost like a puppy does when you tell it to do something and it doesn't yet understand.

"Just talk to her and be patient. She's really hurt and afraid to admit it." Carol said.

"I still don't see what this has to do with me, I never did nothin' to her." he snapped despite his best efforts not to.

"It doesn't. Not directly." Carol said. "It's because of your brother."

Daryl's eyes widened. Carol said too much. He knew his brother well enough that he knew what happened.

"No." he said.

Carol looked away, she shouldn't have mentioned his brother. It was a step too close to the truth and he got it. She doubted Zoey would ever trust her again now.

When Carol didn't say anything more he knew she wasn't just making things up to get him to talk to Zoey.

"Fuck!" he yelled as he ran off back to camp to ask Zoey what the hell happened and what was now going on.

Carol ran behind him trying to catch up to his quick pace so that she could stop him from just barging in on Zoey like he was undoubtedly planning to. Upon reaching camp, however, she realized she wouldn't have to do that. There was something going on at the barn that contained the walkers. Rick and Hershel stood outside of it each holding a walker with one of those herding rods. Shane was armed and was ranting in front of the barn.

Daryl saw the commotion, too. How could anyone not? He also saw the guns at the campsite and picked up one of them and made his way over to the barn. He knew Shane was planning on killing the walkers inside and knew that, with not only Hershel's family all outside but the entire group out there as well, he needed to help. He passed Zoey as he took up a decent position and trained his gun on Hershel's walker, but he couldn't even bring himself to look her in the eye at the moment. He actually hurt for her.

As one could only imagine all hell broke loose. One by one walkers began exiting the barn. Gunshots and scrams filled the air for several very long moments until all was clear. Hershel broke down crying and his family tried to consol him. Shane had an air of accomplishment about him. Until the sounds of wheezing came from the barn. There was still one walker left.

As it emerged everyone was quiet. Even Hershel looked up to see who else he knew was about to be shot down. To his surprise it wasn't someone he knew at all.

It all happened so fast. Sophia emerged from the barn and hesitated one moment as the sun fell upon her. But it wasn't her anymore.

"No!" Carol screamed as she ran towards what once used to be her daughter. Daryl caught her and they fell to the ground as she screamed and cried out.

Shane was stunned for once in a very long while.

Sophia walked toward the group and Rick was the only one who did what had to be done. He raised his gun, aimed, and fired.

Zoey's heart rose into her throat, she could feel it pounding away and it hurt. She felt like she was going to be sick.

The sound of the gun shot seemed to echo in everyone's ears for longer than it actually had. Once the sound cleared away all that was left was Carol's loud sobs.


	9. Chapter 9

Since finding Sophia everything around the farm seemed dark. Moods especially. Though, who could really say they shouldn't be. Zoey cried for a better part of a day and from her tent she could hear Carol sobbing as well. Though she didn't understand why Carol refused to go to Sophia's funeral. She saw Daryl talking to her about it, but she didn't bother asking him. She hadn't spoken to him in days and she wasn't about to try. She figured she wouldn't even bother since he wasn't talking to anyone anymore anyway. Since finding Sophia as a walker he'd turned himself out of the group. He even went so far as to move his tent away from the others. When he caught Zoey staring at him he glared at her, then his eyes moved suspiciously down to her stomach so briefly Zoey didn't even notice, then he shook his head and finished moving his tent.

He had wanted to talk to her about it, but now he couldn't. They weren't on speaking terms before he decided to separate himself from the group and he wasn't about to mend any bonds if he was going to continue to distance himself.

Zoey was tired of trying to work things out between her and Daryl. She never really liked relationships that required work so why should she keep putting herself through this? She knew the answer, it was always nagging at her, but she didn't want to acknowledge it anymore.

Daryl often wondered if he shouldn't at least talk to her anyway, distancing himself from the group or not. He knew what Merle had done, Carol all but told him outright, and he wondered if Zoey was fighting for more than her own life nowadays. But he couldn't ask. He should, but he couldn't. He knew he wouldn't be able to actually do anything about it, anyway, so he figured he should just get himself some distance.

By this time everyone knew Lori was pregnant, but the only person who knew about Zoey's pregnancy was Carol. Zoey was thankful that she hadn't told anyone when Lori's big secret came out. But when Rick, Hershel, and Glenn didn't come back from town and Lori went missing and everyone got even more worked up Zoey couldn't help but feel more worried for Lori than anyone else. After all, if something happened to her than the baby was lost.

Dark thoughts kept into Zoey's mind about her own baby. It wouldn't be the first time Zoey had thought of ways to terminate the pregnancy she hadn't wanted. But every time these thoughts came up she did her best to shut them right back down. She didn't want to think of it, but yet she couldn't stop.

Lori was back, Glenn, Hershel, and Rick were back. And then there was Randall. A scrawny kid with a gaping wound through his left leg that Rick had insisted on saving. Zoey soon found out that the group of people who weren't opposed by Randall's presence in the group was very small. In fact, it consisted of only her, Dale, and Glenn. The others all figured he would get them all killed and wanted to take him out before any harm could be done because of him.

Finally it was decided that Rick and Shane would drive him out and leave him far enough away from the farm so that he wouldn't be a threat.

Sometime after they left Zoey took to her tent. She'd been hiding herself away for a while now. It wasn't because she didn't want to be around anyone, really, she would have loved to keep watch with Dale or talk to Glenn about video games, or even ask Lori about what's normal and abnormal in a pregnancy. She'd been feeling sick and had been having cramps so painful that sometimes she couldn't even get off the makeshift bed in her tent. She didn't know the first thing about being pregnant so she wasn't sure if any of this was normal. She'd just resolved to ask Lori about it when the cramping came back. She grit her teeth and tried to ride it out as she had been, but this time it was different. She felt it this time. Blood. Too much blood.

She screamed. She couldn't stop herself.

Andrea was the first one to come to her aid.

"Zoey? Zoey you okay? What happened?" She pushed aside the tent door and went wide eyed.

"What are you screaming about? It's just your period?" Andrea asked incredulously. But when she saw that Zoey was crying she added, "Isn't it?"

Daryl showed up next and behind him shortly was Carol. Zoey heard Dale shouting "Is she okay?" as he started running over to her tent from the RV.

Zoey covered her lap, there were way too many people heading for her tent now and she was more than just a little embarrassed.

"Can everyone go, please?" She cried.

Carol pushed passed Andrea and pulled Zoey in close to her. Dale had just arrived at the tent and was trying to ask Andrea what was happening, but she had no answers for him.

Carol took control of the situation. "Everyone needs to go." They stared at her. So she pressed on. "You all need to leave, now."

Andrea and Dale looked at each other with more confusion than anything else. They listened to Carol, though, and they turned and left. Zoey heard Andrea telling the others, who had probably heard her scream from the house, to go back to the house and that they had no answers other than it wasn't a walker.

Zoey couldn't stop crying. She wasn't even sure how she felt, but she just couldn't stop crying. No, she hadn't wanted the baby but she wasn't sure she wanted this to happen either. Carol just sat there and held Zoey in her arms until she had calmed down and stopped crying. She then helped Zoey clean up and offered to ask Hershel for help. Zoey wouldn't let her, though, she knew what happened, and Hershel was a vet, what could he do besides cause her more embarrassment.

"If there's anything you need you know where to find me." she said once she'd taken the soiled clothing and blankets to throw out and replaced them with new ones.

"Thanks, Carol." Zoey whispered.

"It's no problem, sweetheart." she said as she turned and left.

It had to have been only minutes after Carol left that Daryl came back.

"What happened?" he asked, not even asking her if it was okay that he enter her tent.

"Nothing." Zoey said not even turning on her now clean bed to look at him.

"Oh fuck you, nothing's wrong." He snapped. There it was again, anger he didn't mean to show but that he couldn't help.

"If you're here to snap at me just fucking leave!" She did turn to him this time. "I can't handle this."

"What can you handle then? Huh? Keeping secrets, obviously. You mind fuckin' tellin' me somethin'? Like maybe what my brother actually did to you?"

Zoey went wide-eyed. "How do you know about what Merle did?"

"I know my brother." was all he said. He didn't want to betray Carol by telling Zoey that's who had told him.

She went to scoff but it turned into a strange sort of sob. She meant to be cold and turn him away, but she just cried.

Daryl sat down next to her and asked, "Are you pregnant?"

Zoey shook her head. "Not anymore."

Daryl didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to handle friendships let alone know how to handle this situation.

He settled for giving her an awkward hug and muttering "Sorry." before heading back to his own tent where he could think.


	10. FLASHBACK 4

24 hours. That's all it's been. Just 24 hours since Merle had taken her in the woods. Just 24 hours she'd been hiding away from everyone as best she could in her own little makeshift tent. 24 hours spent being absolutely miserable. She'd made up her mind. She was going to sneak away from the group. She'd survived on her own before, sure she had only just barely survived and had too many close calls to count, but she had done it. She'd do it again.

It was early. The sun was just starting to rise, the woods were still a too dark for comfort but she would go anyway. While the others were asleep and could ask no questions she would go. Grabbing the few things she still owned and her sword she got up and began walking.

She wasn't even at the wood-line before she was stopped.

"Hey! Where are you going?" a friendly, concerned voice whispered.

Zoey could have screamed but something in her knew it was okay. She turned around and saw the man who always wore that silly floppy hat and had more white hair on his face than on his head. Dale, she remembered him saying his name was.

"You crazy? Walker's are sure to get you if you go off now!" He looked at her with concern and a little bit of confusion as to how she could think she'd be safe in the woods while they were still dark.

"I'm leaving." She tried to keep her voice strong, but it betrayed her as it always did. She wasn't prepared for meeting up with anyone.

"What? Why? You can't go! It's not safe! You can't survive on your own, you need to stay with us! We can protect you." Dale protested.

Zoey stared at him. This was the first time anyone had shown any concern for her since the start of this whole mess. She was willing herself not to break down right there.

"Are you alright?" Dale asked when she said nothing.

She couldn't help it. She broke. All the feelings she had pent up inside her, all the tears she hadn't cried over her family and friends, the tears she hadn't shed when she'd been alone and fighting for her life, the tears she still needed to let out from what happened to her 24 hours ago all came bursting out of her. Dale put an arm around her to support her and led her back to the camp and brought her into the RV. She sat on the bed and he brought her something to drink. He didn't ask what was wrong and she didn't tell him. He just allowed her to cry it out and if she wanted to talk she would.

"Is there anything I can do?" he finally asked.

"Not unless you can change the past." she said, her voice hoarse.

"Well, I can't do that. Though, if you need to talk I'll listen. And isn't that a line from the Lion King? I mean, I haven't seen it in ages, but I'm sure that's where it's from." he asked, trying to make her feel a bit better.

She let out a small laugh and a smile spread across her face. She loved that movie, no matter how old she got. "Yeah." she whispered, "Yeah that's where it's from."

"I knew I was right!" he stopped and it was silent for a while. "Why were you trying to leave?"

"I don't belong here." She said.

"Why do you say that? Of course you do. We're a group of survivors!" Dale told her.

"I just don't feel like I'm part of this group, I mean, I some people here are not exactly...friendly toward me and I'm not sure I should be here." That was as much as she was about to tell him.

"I have a feeling you mean the Dixon brothers. Don't worry about them. No one likes them. We like you, though, and you know why?" he asked.

Zoey shook her head and took a sip of water.

"It's because you're not like them. You're a survivor, like us, and you're not a Dixon. You'll see, once you start to get to know us a bit more then I'm sure you'll think that leaving is a silly idea." he said.

Dale was a little worried that she didn't believe him when she didn't answer him. She just sat there staring at the cup in her hands.

"Okay, well, will you at least stay for a little bit? Give us a chance? You can help me keep watch! I need someone to talk to when I'm just sitting up on the roof all day. Will you stay? For me? I don't want to have to worry about you getting attacked by walkers out there in the woods just because the Dixon's, of all people, scared you away."

Zoey looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"Alright! You'll see. It's not so bad. And, if anyone ever gives you any trouble you can come and talk to me. It'll all work out. I promise." he smiled.

Zoey tried to give a genuine smile but the one that spread across her face now was more of a sad smile than she was going for. Dale didn't know how much his kind words actually meant to her and Zoey was grateful that she was in a group with him. He seemed like he truly cared and she needed that.

"Thanks." she managed to say without her voice breaking for once.

"Oh don't worry about it. I'm just looking out for ya. Speaking of looking out, what do you say we go and keep look out before walkers show up." He said as he rose from the seat he'd been sitting on and headed for the door. He paused when he reached it and looked behind him to make sure Zoey was following him.

"I'll be there in a minute, I'm just going to finish this and then put my stuff back in my tent." she told him.

He smiled at her before walking out of the RV.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey Dale, mind if I keep watch with you?" Zoey called up to him.

"No, come on up!" he called back. "Feeling better?" he asked when her head appeared at the top of the ladder.

"Yeah, I'm... better now." she said. Dale stood up and offered the chair to Zoey. She turned down his offer at first but he insisted so she sat down.

"Could I ask what was wrong?" he ventured.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, well... maybe you would." Zoey said.

"Try me. I've seen people rise from the dead." he told her.

"I was pregnant." she whispered, as if they could be overheard when they were so high up and not a soul was in the yard other than themselves.

"Was? But how?" Dale stopped looking towards the woods and looked at her, but Zoey kept her eyes on the wood-line.

"Merle. It happened my first day with the group. I got pregnant, but now I'm not. It's over." she told him.

"That's why you wanted to leave, isn't it. Because of what he did to you?" Dale couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yeah." she answered.

Dale couldn't help how indifferent her voice sounded. It was kind of unnerving. Her voice usually always hinted at her feelings, but now he heard nothing in her voice.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, it had only been a few hours since he had been running over to check on her, how could she be acting so casually so soon?

"I'm better, trust me." She said. "Better than I was before."

"You're sure?" he asked again.

"Positive." she tuned and smiled at him.

Dale sighed. He obviously wasn't going to get anything else about her feelings out of her. "You know, I never regretted him not coming back to the camp."

"Me neither." Zoey stated.

"Does Daryl know? I mean, it was his brother..." Dale started but Zoey interrupted.

"Yeah, he knows now." Zoey answered him.

"Dixon's are bad news. I told you that once, I still stand by it. Daryl was getting better, but I just don't know anymore." he said.

"I think I'm in love with him." Zoey said.

Once again Dale heard no hint of emotion in her voice. He wanted to ask her once more if she was truly okay, but he didn't. He figured it was the stress from loosing a baby so suddenly that was making her act this way.

"Well. Uh..." Dale didn't know what to say and it was awkwardly silent for a while.

"Dale, do you think I'm a horrible person?" she asked in her new, cold voice.

"No, why would I think that?" he asked.

"I'm happy the baby is gone." she replied.

Dale looked at her with a mixture of concern and sympathy. "You didn't want it, right?"

"Right." she said.

"Well, it was an accident." was all he said. Dale was always looking for hope. He wouldn't have been too happy if Zoey had willingly had an abortion, but it was an accident so there was no choice in it, and he let it go.

"Sorry, Dale." Zoey said. "I let you down."

"How? No you haven't!" he crouched down beside her. "It was an accident. I can understand that. And it was not exactly put there under acceptable circumstances. It's okay, Zoey. Merle's not worth the air needed to talk about him, and if you're happy about losing the baby you didn't even want, then it's okay. You're not the one to blame, you did absolutely nothing wrong. It's okay."

Zoey smiled, and this time Dale saw the warmth in it and it made him feel better. He smiled back at her and hugged her.

"Thanks Dale." she said.

"Don't worry." he said.

He let go and stood back up and watched the wood-line for a few moments before turning back to her.

"This kid, Randall, what do you think we should do with him? Do you really think we should execute him? Wouldn't keeping him prisoner or letting him go be better? I mean, he's a human being!" Dale almost shouted the last sentence almost as if he was trying to have the others hear his argument for the 100th time.

"I'm with you, Dale." she lied. She was, at first, but she couldn't ignore the possibility that this kid could be dangerous anymore. She didn't want to upset Dale, though. From the very beginning he was there for her and she wasn't about to purposely let him down now.

"Thank you! Finally someone with a brain!" he said and went back to keeping an eye out for walkers.

It was dark out. The group had voted for Randall to be executed. Only Zoey and Dale were against it, and what no one else, except Zoey, knew was that the only one truly opposed to this idea was Dale.

"This group is broken" Dale had said to Daryl as he had stormed out and everyone sat in silence. Even Shane, Daryl, and Rick left the house in silence as they headed to the barn to take care of Randall.

Zoey sat in the house with the others to wait for it all to be over. No one noticed Carl sneak out the front door and head for the barn to watch the execution. Everyone was getting pretty antsy as they awaited the gunshot signaling that all this debating was finally over. But it never came. What came was the sound of someone screaming. Of Dale screaming.

Everyone ran out of the house and into the yard, searching and yelling for Dale. Daryl was the one to find him first. When the others joined them they saw Dale laying in the grass with his stomach ripped open by a walker. Andrea and Zoey both leaned over and cried.

Zoey was pleading, "Please Dale, please be okay, you have to be okay because I need you here. Okay? I need you to pull through this. It'll be okay. You always tell me it will be okay!" Dale grabbed her hand with the little strength he had left in him.

Hershel showed up and told them there was nothing he could do.

"He's suffering!" Andrea cried.

"Dale! Please!" Zoey cried.

Rick's gun was pointed at Dale's head, but he couldn't bring himself to fire. Daryl pushed him gently aside and aimed his own gun.

"Sorry brother." he said before he pulled the trigger.

An almost invisible look of acceptance crossed Dale's face before his entire body went limp. His hand fell from Zoey's and he was gone.


	12. Chapter 12

When Zoey felt Dale's hand fall from hers she knew she had lost the one person she was sure truly cared about her. Her entire body and mind went numb. Andrea had stood up and offered a hand out to Zoey to help her up, but Zoey didn't notice. Andrea dropped her arm back to her side and turned and silently walked back to the house on her own. She had her own grieving to do.

Lori knelt down next to Zoey and said, "We should go back inside, Zoey."

"I have to stay with him." Zoey said in a barely audible whisper.  
>"He's gone, sweetheart." she said in a choked voice.<p>

"I have to stay with him." Zoey repeated no louder than the first time.

Lori stood and walked over to Rick. After she whispered something in his ear he walked over and crouched beside Zoey. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said, "I know this is hard, he was a good man, but he's dead now, Zoey. He's dead and there's nothing anyone could have done. Nothing you could have done. It's not safe out here. You should go back inside."

"I have to stay with him." Zoey said for a third time.

"Zoey -" Rick started.

"Christ." Daryl muttered, interrupting whatever Rick was about to say to coax Zoey back into the house. He walked around Dale's lifeless body, handed Rick back his gun, and picked up Zoey.

"Put me down!" she protested, suddenly no longer the weak, stunned person who was on the ground just a moment ago. She seemed to be using every ounce of energy she had to struggle against Daryl's grip. "Put me the fuck down, I said!"

"Can you be quiet? You want to attract more walkers and get more people killed tonight?" He said.

She elbowed the back of his head and his hold on her loosened but he didn't drop her. "Put me down or I'm going to kill you."

"Yeah, okay." He half laughed.

"Just like your brother then, huh? You don't let girls go no matter how much they beg you to." Zoey spat.

Daryl dropped her. She landed flat on her back, her body hit the ground hard enough to make an audible thud and cause pain to shoot up her spine. She glared up at him with so much rage in her eyes that it was almost inhuman. Daryl glared back at her with just as much hate. It took him a lot of self control to do nothing more to her than yell "Fuck you, bitch!" and walk away from her back towards Rick and the others.

The rage in Zoey gave her enough fuel to get up and walk towards the house without even looking back. Once in the house, though, she collapsed on the bed in the room she was given and cried.

The next morning Zoey felt like leaving. It'd been the first time she's considered going off on her own since Merle vanished. Only this time Dale wasn't there to persuade her to stay. Never again would she have him to help her with her problems; never again would she have that someone convince her she wasn't useless. So she grabbed her things and walked out of the house. She didn't make it farther than the front porch before she was stopped, however.

"You and I need to talk." Daryl grabbed her sleeve and pulled her around to the side of the house.

"Look, whatever you want to talk about doesn't matter. I'm leaving and you don't have to deal with me anymore. You hate how one moment I'm screaming at you and the next I claim to have 'feelings'," she used air quotations around feelings because she didn't know how she felt anymore, "well, good. Me, too. So I'm going." She turned to walk away.

Daryl's whole argument slipped from his mind. "What? Are you fucking nuts?" He was angry at her for accusing him of being anything like Merle, sure, but he didn't want her to leave and get herself killed, either.

Zoey kept walking away.

Daryl walked over to her and tried to block her way but she dodged him. He grabbed the back of her shirt and spun her around to face him. With a hand on each arm he held her there. "What is the matter with you? You can't survive out there on your own. You remember how well it was going before I found you in the woods that day? Trapped in a tree surrounded by walkers? Yeah, you'll do great on your own."

"Beginners mistake. I'll do better next time." Zoey said and tried to shake his hands off her.

"No. There's no next time. You're not going anywhere." He said.

"Since when are you my babysitter?" She snapped.

"Dale's not here to teach you common sense so I will. You want to go out there, fine, but don't think for a second I'm gonna sit here and let you get yourself killed 'cos you wanted to go off and be stupid." He let her go. "Your choice. Stay here and be safe, or go out there with me followin' ya and get us both killed."

"Leave me alone, Daryl." she said quietly as she turned her back and began walking away.

Without a word he started following her.

"Go away." Zoey said after a few feet when she realized he wasn't stopping.

He continued to follow her without a word.

"I mean it, Dixon, go back." she said.

They made it all the way to the wood-line before Zoey stopped. "What's the matter with me? What the hell is the matter with you? You're just gonna follow me into the woods? You don't even have a gun or your crossbow on you! So you want me to think you're gonna follow me out into the woods with nothing but that knife you've got as protection against the damn walkers? I told you to go back!"

"You want me to think you're going to be any better off out here on your own with just some hobbits sword or whatever?" He asked. "Do you even know how to find food? What plants and berries are poisonous? How to make your place a safe place to sleep? No, you don't. So you'll need someone to teach you all that shit if you're gonna make it out here."

"Please go back, Daryl." she whispered and looked away from him.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

She looked up at him. It was the first time he'd asked her what was wrong. Not what was wrong with her, but what was bothering her. She looked up at him and searched his face for a hint of anger, mockery, anything other than the concern she saw there, but of course there wasn't anything else.

"Dale's dead, Daryl. He's dead and he's not coming back. My family is dead, and they're not coming back. Daryl, I had to kill the people I loved the most before they could kill me. Then I run, and I make it into the woods and almost get myself killed because the only weapon I've got is a sword from a movie about hobbits and elves and dwarfs, and then I get raped – I'd never even had sex before that point, and then I find out I'm pregnant, and then I lose the baby. Wanted it or not it's still so fucked I can't even explain it. Now, on top of all that, my best friend dies. The only one who told me I wasn't some useless shit, goes and dies!"

Daryl was puzzled as to how she wasn't sobbing. He'd seen her lose it so easily, but now as she stood before him recounting every nightmare she'd had to suffer within such a short time there was not even a single tear. Zoey noticed this, too. She didn't feel she had to cry. Sure she wanted to, deep down, but she wasn't going to let herself. She was tired of being this fragile, weak, crying, thing. She was an adult and it was high time she reigned her emotions, got herself under control, and started acting like one.

"I don't think you're shit." Daryl said.

She looked away from him, shook her head, and laughed a little. Then she began walking back towards the house.

"Where do you think you're going? Woods is the other way." he called after her.

"I'm going back." she told him.

Zoey had indeed turned over a new leaf, so to speak. It was almost as if Dale's death caused her to take on his strength and she mixed it with her own. She'd been putting more of her own input into things, and everyone noticed how she tended to walk around with an air of self-confidence she hadn't had before. Perhaps she was tired of feeling so useless and that's what inspired the change, or perhaps she was tired of being so weak, or maybe it was Dale's strength. Maybe it was all three, who knows. She sure as hell didn't. She'd even decided to take shooting lessons once this whole issue with that Randall kid was through. Daryl was right, a sword might be helpful, but she was sure a gun would be a hell of a better thing for if she needed to take down something further away.

But that Randall issue seemed to have escalated. At some point Shane stumbled out of the woods yelling and screaming about how Randall jumped him. Daryl, Rick, and Glenn all went with him back into the woods to find him. Zoey wanted to go help too, but she knew she'd be no use until she got those shooting lessons. At least, she figured, they'd happen sooner rather than later. She knew Randall would be killed by the end of the day. No one gets the upper hand on Shane Walsh and lives to see another day.

She was sitting in the house with the others when she saw the fire. It burned brightly, clear as day, against the jet black night sky. It only took a second longer to see the hoard of walkers coming out of the woods like a dam somewhere had burst. Her heart skipped a beat, she was scared. She knew she had to get out of there, fighting wasn't an option right now. Fleeing was the only chance of surviving.

The yard was nothing but chaos. The group and Hershel's family were scattered once they set foot outside. Some were fighting, some were running. Zoey wasn't stupid. She knew she had to stick with someone who knew how to work a gun. She followed Andrea.

"I got your back!" Zoey told her. Brandishing nothing but a sword might not be the best thing when the place is crawling with walkers, but she figured she could offer the help to Andrea in case some got too close to her by sneaking up behind her.

If you asked anyone what the hell was happening no one would have an answer for you. If you had asked Andrea or Zoey how they had gotten left behind neither of them would have an answer for you. It was a close call but they found themselves off the farm and in the woods somehow.

The two of them were running. At some point Zoey lost Andrea but she didn't notice right away. When she finally did stop and turn around she found Andrea on the ground, a walker on the ground next to her, and standing behind her was a cloaked woman wielding two katanas with armless, jaw-less, walkers trailing behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Comments:<strong> _Sorry about the bit written for the season 2 finale. I'm aware it could be off a bit because I haven't seen the episode since it aired (I hope it isn't too bad or too far off of what happened in the episode) I haven't been able to afford the box set yet but I didn't want to put off the chapter any longer lest I forget everything completely. Next new chapter will come out after the season 3 premiere._


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